Except the place where he was holding her arms was tingly and warm, and that sensation was spreading rampantly through her, like bunches of fireworks exploding in little bursts, one at a time.
Right. Not good. Cam’s gaze dropped to their hands. As if he suddenly realized he was still holding her, he pulled back.
Oh. He was just being comforting. Trying to help. He wasn’t really holding her in that way.
“Cam, listen,” she said. “There’s something I need to tell you. My grandmother told me she wants to retire, and I think she means it. She told me to think about what I really wanted as far as starting a rescue. I’ve been spending a lot of time thinking about how it could work, how I could transform this place.”
He nodded carefully. “I’ve signed a contract with the restaurant people. My name’s on the line as far as seeing this through. They believe this is the ideal location. I have to admit I do too. There’s no other like this on the market.”
Yearning, sadness, confusion all flooded her. But sadness won. “Then we’re still on opposite sides.”
The only sound was Jagger’s steady breathing as he slept off his sugar coma. Her heart felt strangely heavy and achy. She wondered if things would be different if they didn’t have this massive barrier—in the form of a century-old building—between them.
“You told them Jagger was our dog,” she said as they sat side by side on a bench under the windows.
“Well, for now he is,” Cam said, maintaining a healthy distance. “That okay?”
She nodded. “Sure. Okay.”
“Friends can share a dog,” he said.
“Friends,” she said, nodding a little. Lying. Because her pulse was pounding and her body was telling her they would never be just friends.
He was simply being nice because of what had happened. A nice friend.
She felt a stab in her chest. A warning to not let his kindness melt her heart. To keep on disliking him and being angry with him and…
Hadley’s phone buzzed with a text from Darla:
WAVING RED FLAG! GRANDMA ON HER WAY!
There was a rap on the door. Cam, still in warrior mode, quickly walked over to see who it was.
“The press again?” she asked hopefully. She must be panicked if she’d take those salivating vultures over her determined grandmother any day. She and Cam had made a scene, and Gran wouldn’t be happy about that. And now the reporters thought they were a couple. Hadley could only imagine what people were saying about that.
“It’s Paul,” he said. “And your grandma.” He turned and grinned, making her heart free-fall again despite herself. “And she looks like she’s on a mission.”
* * *
As Cam opened the door, he was brimming over with frustration.
Had he really just told Hadley that baloney about being friends?
He’d panicked because…because of Cooper. Because of the heartbroken look on her face when she found out Maeve was pregnant.
And then the building, always the building. Standing between them, preventing them from talking about other things.
Important things.
In the doorway, Paul was standing behind Maddy’s wheelchair, an apologetic expression on his face.
“Thanks, Paul,” Maddy called cheerfully over her shoulder as she muscled her way over the threshold, surprisingly adept. “I can take it from here.”
Cam caught Paul’s eye. The older man shrugged and lowered his voice, patting Cam on the back in sympathy. “I couldn’t stop her. She’s on a mission. And she wanted to walk all the way over here but I insisted on taking the chair.”
Cam walked over to where Hadley now sat on Bowie’s favorite window seat and dropped down beside her. Whatever Maddy was about to say, Cam couldn’t work up much worry over it. He had something else on his mind entirely. And it wasn’t friendship.
“I’m so glad you two are getting along,” she said, looking them both over. “I heard the reporters saying you two are a couple.”
“We’re not a couple,” they both said in unison.
“Okay. But you also created quite a scene at the festival. Mrs. Doyle hasn’t stopped talking about it. Neither has anyone else. They’re all taking sides.”
“Taking sides?” Hadley asked.
“Yes. Some are saying a restaurant is just what Seashell Harbor needs. And others are wanting a pet rescue. You’ve created quite a stir.” They’d been so into their argument, he hadn’t really noticed much of anything else.
“We can explain,” Hadley rushed to say.
Cam chimed in. “Things got a little out of hand but…”
“But nothing,” Gran said adamantly. “The trouble is, you were both working to prove your point to the other instead of working at your point. Do you get what I’m saying? Now the pie ladies are angry and everyone is all worked up. I’m afraid you’ve made your story more about each other than the good of our town.”
“I can have my team issue a statement,” Cam offered.
Gran shot him a look, but Hadley sent him a little smile, like she knew exactly what he was thinking. Her grandmother was not someone to be messed with. Or brushed aside by his team.
The last time he’d seen Maddy so fired up was long ago. He and Hadley had gone out one night when she was spending the weekend with her grandma. They’d fallen asleep on the beach and returned to the house at 4:00 a.m. to find her grandmother was waiting up, frantically pacing, the police chief sitting in her easy chair. She’d hugged and kissed Hadley when she’d finally walked in safe but she’d made her mop the Palace floors for the next month. And made Cam scoop poop. And she’d given both of them lectures on responsibility and being in love and using birth control and he’d almost died of embarrassment.
“You can’t wave a magic wand over this and make it go away, Cam,” Maddy said. “There was misbehavior. Bickering. Runaway dogs.” She tossed a glare over at Jagger, whose good ear drooped as he became aware that he, too, was on her Z list. Finally, she threw up her hands. “You two became the story, not your dog rescue, Hadley. Or your restaurant, Cam.”
That made him feel awful. Leave it to Grandma to bring him, a six-foot-four former tight end, to his knees.
“I think you may both want to do some damage control after the little stir you caused.”
“We’ll tone it down,” Hadley said, looking at him. Her expression was somber but she had a little glint in her eyes. Not mischievous, exactly, but something that showed him she saw a little bit of humor in this. He couldn’t help smiling a little, despite everything.
Cam cleared his throat and sat up. “Maddy, we’ll do what we can to show everyone we’re serious about helping.”
“Yes. Good,” Gran said. “And I have just the thing to help you do that. I have a responsibility I need to hand over because I’m laid up, and I’ve decided that I’m giving it to you two.” She put on her bifocals and pulled out a letter from a little red crocheted pouch hanging on the side of her wheelchair. “Both of you. Together. And it means forgetting about repurposing this building for right now.”
Gran didn’t wait for protests as she read the heading on the paper. “The Annual Seashell Harbor Medical Services Benefit. Margie Goldman took my place as chair after my accident but her daughter had her twins early and she’s already flown to San Francisco to help her. So, I’m putting you two in charge.”